Program Notes and Performer Bios
Notes on the Works:
Sontatina for Solo Cello (1997)
The composition calls for techniques on the instrument I didn’t know about until I began work on it, and - as you’ll see - I tried them all. Throughout, the single instrument is called upon to be the lead singer and all of the accompanying instruments.
The first movement opens with a stately tune, countered with an opposing idea that sets up a battle throughout. The third movement features a fast, soaring line that struggles to stay in control of itself. But the focal point of this piece is the middle movement with its aching melody which poured out in a single evening’s composing.
The Boathouse in Winter: Central Park (2001)
The Boathouse is exactly what you might expect from the title: sound snippets evoking the atmosphere, views, and little happenings one encounters at Central Park’s iconic attraction.
Of course, at the time the piece was written, there was no fancy restaurant there; only a concession and the usual metal mesh tables and chairs. But - even in the cold season - the charm of the water, dormant boats, birds, turtles, and passers-by made it a nice place to compose the piece. And it was the only occasion - before or since - that I created a piece completely away from the piano.
The eight movements feature pairs from the quintet (with some interjections from the others), going round robin.
I can’t recall much of the (now lost) single-line poems I jotted on the title page of each movement, or from which the inspirations emerged, except one: “The food never fails to disappoint; it’s a good thing there’s beer.” …Appropriate for the finale movement in which all the instruments sing together at last.
Incidental Dance Suite (1999)
The composition of the Incidental Dance Suite was the result of an invitation to write for The Other Side of Broadway, and concert series initiative of pianist, Barbara Irvine, which featured “classical” works by composers otherwise known for theatre writing.
The piece was premiered at Merkin Concert Hall alongside works by Galt McDermott (Hair), Charles Strouse (Annie, Bye Bye Birdie), and David Amram.
The piece calls for virtuosity and orchestral thinking from the pianist despite its basis in simple dance forms: Tango, Waltz, and Swing. Each song is stretched into an elaborate version of itself; the last evokes a bent kind of 12-bar blues in 12/8 time.
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1999)
The Sonata was originally conceived for the instrument that dominated my life from the 5th grade through college, the oboe. Though completed in my mid thirties, the piece grew out of motivic snippets first jotted down in my undergrad years - about 1982; at the peak of the instrument’s hold on my life.
On the occasion of my one(!) composition lesson with modern titan composer, John Corigliano (long story), I thought it a good idea to take this piece along for feedback. Said feedback largely centered around my poor choices of melodic lines, registers, and the like for the instrument; “non-idiomatic.” While I still like to hear the oboe on this wanna-be impressionist piece, I think the clarinet brings welcome power to sail on high register lines (unlike the thinning upward soprano of the oboe) and subtlety through low registered phrases.
Epitaph: Four Songs on Poems of Dorothy Parker (2000)
Epitaph was completed during my time at The Manhattan School of Music. I entered the masters composition program (at age 38) in need of a good shaking up and more than a little mental stretching. I was lucky enough to get both from Nils Vigeland.
Epitaph includes four selections from the canon of Dorothy Parker, probably among the most enduring names from the ‘Algonquin Round Table’ literary group of the 1920s.
Parker was notoriously unlucky in love. Together, the set comprises a sort of theatrical scene depicting the downward spiral of the character. In “Death’s the Lover,” she jubilantly declares her favored lover (Death). In “I Shall Come Back,” she speaks as if addressing a former lover about how, when she appears to him as a ghost, he probably won’t even notice. She soliloquizes about her reactions to her own imagined death in “The First Time I Died.” And, finally, she let’s us know what she wants etched on her grave stone in “Epitaph.”
I chose contrabass to round out the trio for two reasons: to strike a more stark contrast with the voice (as opposed to cello, for example), and to give the appearance of a little jazz trio. The bass is featured in the brief interludes between songs 2 and 3, singing mournfully with a lot of virtuosic overtones.
texts:
Death’s The Lover That I’d Be Taking
(The Trifler)
Death's the lover that I'd be taking;
Wild and fickle and fierce is he.
Small's his care if my heart be breaking
Gay young Death would have none of me.
Hear them clack of my haste to greet him!
No one other my mouth had kissed.
I had dressed me in silk to meet him;
False young Death would not hold the tryst.
Slow's the blood that was quick and stormy,
Smooth and cold is the bridal bed;
I must wait till he whistles for me
Proud young Death would not turn his head.
I must wait till my breast is wilted,
I must wait till my back is bowed,
I must rock in the corner, jilted
Death went galloping down the road.
Gone's my heart with a trifling rover.
Fine he was in the game he played
Kissed, and promised, and threw me over,
And rode a-way with a prettier maid.
I Shall Come Back
I shall come back without fanfaronade
Of wailing wind and graveyard panoply;
But, trembling, slip from cool Eternity,
A mild and most bewildered little shade.
I shall not make sepulchral midnight raid,
But softly come where I had longed to be
In April twilight's unsung melody,
And I, not you, shall be the one afraid.
Strange, that from lovely dreamings of the dead
I shall come back to you, who hurt me most.
You may not feel my hand upon your head,
I'll be so new and inexpert a ghost.
Per-haps you will not know that I am near,
And that will break my ghostly heart, my dear.
The First Time I Died
(Epitaph)
The first time I died, I walked my ways;
I followed the file of limping days.
I held me tall, with my head held up,
But I dared not look at the new moon's cup.
I dared not look at the sweet young rain,
And between my ribs was a gleaming pain.
The next time I died, they laid me deep.
They spoke worn words to hallow my sleep.
They tossed me petals, they wreathed me fern,
They weighed me down with a marble urn.
And I lie here warm, and I lie here dry,
And watch the worms slip by, slip by.
Epitaph
(For a Sad Lady)
And let her loves, when she is dead,
Write this above her bones:
No more she lives to give us bread
Who asks her only stones.
Vesalius’ Body (2006)
Veslius’ Body was initially composed as a commission for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (Utah), but subsequently not used for the original purpose, communion with choreography. It later “wanted to” change from the original piano trio to the piano quartet version you’ll hear this evening. Either way, it is a first time any of us are hearing the piece.
Vesalius was a 16th century Flemish physician and anatomist whose book De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) was exceedingly influential in his time and contained many intricately detailed drawings (not by Vesalius, apparently) of human dissections, often in allegorical poses. He is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. (wikipdia)
Vesaluius’ Body is made up of a short prelude, 3 movements abstractly depicting aspects of the human body, and a postlude recalling the opening. I remember thinking it was wonderful that the section headers, Blood, Flesh, and Bone inspired some very energetic musical ideas - alternately evoking “Fantastic Voyages” through the body and standing before it in awe.
Performer Bios:
Bassoonist Gina Cuffari is an active orchestral and chamber musician in the New York City area. Praised for her “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving”, she is the new co-principal bassoonist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Riverside Symphony, and a frequent performer with the American Composers Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She has also appeared with American Ballet Theater, Stamford Symphony and New Haven Symphony. Broadway productions include Fiddler on the Roof and Sunset Boulevard. Gina is the bassoonist of the Sylvan Winds, Quintet of the Americas, and performs and records with the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound.
Gina is also a champion of new music, and has performed with the Argento New Music Project, ACME, and has recorded the Schoenberg Wind Quintet and Stockhausen Zeitmasse for Albany Records with the Phoenix Ensemble. As a frequent collaborator with Alarm Will Sound, Gina has toured and performed with the group as bassoonist, contrabassoonist, pianist, and vocalist, and can be heard on their recent Splitting Adams album (music of John Adams). She has also commissioned and premiered solo works combining her two passions – bassoon and voice – at SubCulture NYC and Stony Brook University.
Gina is a graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Manhattan School of Music, and recently completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University. She is a passionate educator, and is on the faculty of New York University and Western CT State University.
Clarinetist, Nicholas Gallas has performed as a guest with a diverse range of artists and ensembles, including NOW Ensemble, the Imani Winds, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Signal, the Knights, Decoda, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, the Britt Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Stamford Symphony, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Princeton Symphony, Onsite Opera, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Symphony in C, Chamber Orchestra of New York, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Metropolis Ensemble, Sylvan Winds, and the Broadway Chamber Players. He has also taught and performed in Mexico with Cultures in Harmony, an international cultural diplomacy project.
Nicholas is currently a member of the American Modern Ensemble, a group devoted to celebrating American contemporary classical music. From 2009-2014 he was a member of the Quintet of the Americas, a woodwind quintet that was founded in 1979 in Bogotá, Columbia.
He has performed on Broadway in the orchestras for The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, and Sunset Boulevard, and has toured the U.S. with singer-songwriter, Duncan Sheik. Additionally, he can been heard on the soundtracks for the film Besa, scored by Philip Glass and the Spike Lee film, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, scored by Bruce Hornsby.
Nicholas received his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe joins the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for what will be her 24th season. Highlights of her opera performances include the title role in La Cenerentola with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and Staatsoper Dresden; the title role in L’Italiana in Algeri with the Metropolitan Opera and Los Angeles Opera; Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Metropolitan Opera and Festival de Musique de Strasbourg; the title character in Massenet’s Chérubin with Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. A champion of contemporary opera, she has sung Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Maddie in Heggie’s Three Decembers, the Countess in The Nose by Shostakovich, the Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul, Lucretia in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, the Mother in the world premier of Sankaram’s Thumbprint and the Mother in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves. Chamber music performances include the Berg Lyric Suite with the Brentano String Quartet, Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis with pianist Jeremy Denk, and the Schoenberg arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde . She has been a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, and with the St. Louis Symphony she debuted at Carnegie Hall as the featured artist in Les nuits d’été.
A native of Kansas, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra French hornist Chris Komer began his studies at Wichita State University with Nick Smith. He later studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Rick Solis and at the Manhattan School of Music with David Jolly.
At home playing all types of music, (not least as a former member of the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps) Chris has become one of New York City’s most sought after freelance hornists. From the concert hall (in addition to the NJSO, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony and Houston Symphony) to the jazz club (with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Chico O’Farrell Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Marta Topferova and Gary Morgan’s Panamericana), to the recording studio (on recordings for J. J. Johnson, McCoy Tyner, Harry Connick Jr., Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Audra McDonald, Celine Dion, George Michael, Luther Van Dross, Chaka Kahn, and in 16 major motion picture soundtracks and hundreds of TV themes and commercials) to Broadway (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Candide, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Music Man, La Bohème, South Pacific and West Side Story), his versatility is second to none. (Chris Komer, Cont.)
Chris has appeared with many successful chamber groups including the Burning River Brass, Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Aspen Wind Quintet, Music from Marlboro, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Extension Ensemble, Canadian Brass and Hexagon.
Also a jazz pianist, Chris released his first solo piano CD, Travlin’ Music in 2009 featuring all original music. Chris has also founded a performing artists’ retreat in the Rocky Mountains called the Artist’s Refuge at Thunderhead.
~ Www.thunderheadrefuge.com
Violist Max Mandel enjoys a varied and acclaimed career as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician and speaker. He is the Co-Principal Viola of The Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment and a member of the trailblazing ensemble The FLUX Quartet. He has appeared as guest Principal with The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and the Handel & Haydn Society amongst others. Other group affiliations include The Smithsonian Chamber Players, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and The Silk Road Ensemble. His most recent record with FLUX Quartet is a collaboration with Saxophonist/Composer Oliver Lake on Passin’ Thru Records. Max's newest venture is his lecture series Chamber Talk. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada he divides his time between New York and London.
Blair McMillen has established himself as one of the most versatile and sought-after pianists today. The New York Times has described him as “riveting,” “prodigiously accomplished and exciting,” and one of the piano’s “brilliant stars.” He has made numerous appearances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall; and with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, and the Albany Symphony. In 2015 he undertook a 3-week tour of Brazil, sponsored by the US State Department. Blair is pianist for the American Modern Ensemble and the six-piano “supergroup” Grand Band, among others.
A major advocate for contemporary music, Blair has premiered and recorded dozens of pieces by some of the most revered living composers in the world. He is the co-director of the Rite of Summer Music Festival, an outdoor contemporary music festival on NYC’s Governors Island. For 13 years, Blair has been Artist-in-Residence at Bard College and Conservatory. He also serves on the piano faculty at the Mannes School of Music.
Since her Carnegie Hall debut recital in 2002, pianist Isabelle O'Connell has developed an international career as soloist and chamber musician that has taken her around the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, to venues such as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Chicago Cultural Center, Detroit Art Institute, the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Cork Opera House, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
Isabelle is co-founder of Grand Band, a piano sextet described by the New York Times as: "six of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York's contemporary-classical scene.” Isabelle has performed as concerto soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and also with Crash ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Da Capo Chamber Players, the ConTempo and New Zealand String Quartets.
Isabelle has recorded for the Diatribe, Innova, and Lyric fm labels. Her debut solo album RESERVOIR features solo piano music by nine contemporary Irish composers and for this The New Yorker hailed her as "the young Irish piano phenom.” She recorded Kevin Volans' Concerto for Piano and Winds with the RTE NSO in 2014.
A former Fulbright scholar, Isabelle holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She is currently on the piano faculty at Bard College.
Violinist Nurit Pacht was a top prize winner in international competitions including the Irving Klein International Music Competition in California and the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland. As a soloist she was featured in major world events such as the European conference for the inauguration of the Euro in Brussels and under the auspices of the European Commission and United Nations she toured the former Yugoslavia, during the cease-fire in 1996. In 2015, she performed for Pope Francis on his visit to New York and gave a State Department funded recital tour of Ukraine. Nurit has collaborated with stage director Robert Wilson, choreographers such as Bill T. Jones and has worked closely with many of today's celebrated composers. She has toured as soloist with orchestras around the world including the Houston Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. The Israeli Composer Noam Sheriff dedicated the violin concerto "Dibrot" to Nurit, and she performed it in several prestigious venues of Israel. As a baroque violinist, she has a master's degree from Juilliard's Historical Performance program. Nurit has recorded for Nimbus Records and Toccata Classics.
Flutist John Romeri maintains an active teaching and performance schedule throughout the northeast, often performing with such orchestras as the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Stamford, Delaware, Harrisburg, and Lancaster Symphonies, as well as the Philadelphia Virtuosi and Black Pearl Chamber Orchestras, St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Wall Street, and Central Park's Shakespeare in the Park.
Currently, John is the flutist for the Broadway revival of Roger and Hammerstein’s Carousel staring Renée Fleming. Previous Broadway credits include the most recent productions of Sunset Boulevard, Miss Saigon, Lincoln Center's revival of The King and I, She Loves Me, An American in Paris, On the Town, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Les Misérables, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Ragtime, Disney’s Mary Poppins, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, and Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular! Television appearances include Mildred Pierce [HBO], Late Night with Jimmy Fallon [NBC], and, most recently, NBC's The Sound of Music Live! and Peter Pan Live!
John holds two bachelor's degrees—in flute performance and composition—from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, as well as a master's degree in flute performance from Mannes College - The New School for Music, where he studied with American Ballet Theater Principal Flute Judy Mendenhall. An avid educator, John currently serves on the music faculty of The Calhoun School, and is a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
Canadian cellist Caroline Stinson performs widely as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician and has appeared at Zankel Hall, Gardner Museum and the Smithsonian; the Koelner Philharmonie, Lucerne Festival and Cité de la Musique in Europe, and the Centennial Centre in Canada. In recent seasons she appeared in recital in New York sponsored by the Finnish Consulate, in recital in Brussels, Belgium, with Accroche note in Strasbourg France, and as a soloist with the Stamford Symphony CT, under Eckart Stier, where she also serves as Principal Cellist. Caroline has commissioned and premiered works from solo cello to concerti and has had (Caroline Stinson, Cont.)
the privilege of working closely with Pierre Boulez, John Corigliano, Peter Eötvös, John Harbison, Aaron Kernis, Paul Moravec, Shulamit Ran, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, and Andrew Waggoner. As a member of the Lark Quartet, she will celebrate the group's 30 years with commissions from Harbison, Waggoner, Bunch, Weesner and Hatke. As a recording artist, Caroline's CD Lines was released on Albany and she has contributed to more than a dozen chamber music recordings with features on this continent and abroad. Born in Edmonton, Ms. Stinson studied with Alan Harris (Cleveland), Maria Kliegel (Germany), Joel Krosnick (Juilliard) and Tanya Prochazka, with grants from Alberta Heritage and the Canada Council. She has given masterclasses across North America and Europe, and teaches cello and chamber music at The Juilliard School. Caroline is Co-Artistic Director of Weekend Chamber Music in the Delaware River Valley.
~ www.carolinestinson.com
Hailed by the New York Times for her “magnificently sweet tone,” oboist Keve Wilson would skip music theory and history as a kid to practice Irish jigs and reels instead. Currently oboist with the Broadway revival Carousel, Keve inspires visiting high school band and orchestra students from around the country with her original show Believe NYC---from the Band Room to Broadway. A past winner of Concert Artists Guild and solo oboist with the Grammy nominated Absolute Ensemble, she has performed in Amsterdam, Argentina, Austria, Dubai, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Mexico, Panama, New Zealand, and South Korea. A two-time recipient of the Clifford-Levy Creativity Grant, Keve traveled to Makuleke Village in South Africa where she participated in learning and teaching folk songs of the region. From Hyde Park, NY and a graduate of Eastman School of Music, she studied oboe with Richard Killmer, piano with Judith Handman and dance with Elizabeth Clark. She lives in New York City with her husband, Kerry and Portuguese water dog, Stella.
~ www.kevewilson.com
Samuel Zagnit, a native New Yorker, is a graduate of The LaGuardia High School for the Arts. He is now pursuing his Bachelor’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music where he has been awarded a full tuition scholarship granted by the Constance and Homer Mensch Scholarship Fund. Sam began studying the double bass at age nine and is currently a student of David Grossman and Orin O’Brien, bassists for the New York Philharmonic. At MSM, Sam has been able to play with a myriad of ensembles, including Tactus, a contemporary performance ensemble, part of the Contemporary Performance Graduate Program. Here he is able to play a vast array of demanding music with extremely high level musicians. In addition to performance, Sam is also a composer and recently premiered his chamber opera, no(w)here (sea)son in Greenfield Hall. Sam recently formed a duo with soprano, Amber Evans, confluss, and they are currently getting ready for their debut concert series, starting on April 30th at 31 Tiemann Pl.
Sontatina for Solo Cello (1997)
The composition calls for techniques on the instrument I didn’t know about until I began work on it, and - as you’ll see - I tried them all. Throughout, the single instrument is called upon to be the lead singer and all of the accompanying instruments.
The first movement opens with a stately tune, countered with an opposing idea that sets up a battle throughout. The third movement features a fast, soaring line that struggles to stay in control of itself. But the focal point of this piece is the middle movement with its aching melody which poured out in a single evening’s composing.
The Boathouse in Winter: Central Park (2001)
The Boathouse is exactly what you might expect from the title: sound snippets evoking the atmosphere, views, and little happenings one encounters at Central Park’s iconic attraction.
Of course, at the time the piece was written, there was no fancy restaurant there; only a concession and the usual metal mesh tables and chairs. But - even in the cold season - the charm of the water, dormant boats, birds, turtles, and passers-by made it a nice place to compose the piece. And it was the only occasion - before or since - that I created a piece completely away from the piano.
The eight movements feature pairs from the quintet (with some interjections from the others), going round robin.
I can’t recall much of the (now lost) single-line poems I jotted on the title page of each movement, or from which the inspirations emerged, except one: “The food never fails to disappoint; it’s a good thing there’s beer.” …Appropriate for the finale movement in which all the instruments sing together at last.
Incidental Dance Suite (1999)
The composition of the Incidental Dance Suite was the result of an invitation to write for The Other Side of Broadway, and concert series initiative of pianist, Barbara Irvine, which featured “classical” works by composers otherwise known for theatre writing.
The piece was premiered at Merkin Concert Hall alongside works by Galt McDermott (Hair), Charles Strouse (Annie, Bye Bye Birdie), and David Amram.
The piece calls for virtuosity and orchestral thinking from the pianist despite its basis in simple dance forms: Tango, Waltz, and Swing. Each song is stretched into an elaborate version of itself; the last evokes a bent kind of 12-bar blues in 12/8 time.
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1999)
The Sonata was originally conceived for the instrument that dominated my life from the 5th grade through college, the oboe. Though completed in my mid thirties, the piece grew out of motivic snippets first jotted down in my undergrad years - about 1982; at the peak of the instrument’s hold on my life.
On the occasion of my one(!) composition lesson with modern titan composer, John Corigliano (long story), I thought it a good idea to take this piece along for feedback. Said feedback largely centered around my poor choices of melodic lines, registers, and the like for the instrument; “non-idiomatic.” While I still like to hear the oboe on this wanna-be impressionist piece, I think the clarinet brings welcome power to sail on high register lines (unlike the thinning upward soprano of the oboe) and subtlety through low registered phrases.
Epitaph: Four Songs on Poems of Dorothy Parker (2000)
Epitaph was completed during my time at The Manhattan School of Music. I entered the masters composition program (at age 38) in need of a good shaking up and more than a little mental stretching. I was lucky enough to get both from Nils Vigeland.
Epitaph includes four selections from the canon of Dorothy Parker, probably among the most enduring names from the ‘Algonquin Round Table’ literary group of the 1920s.
Parker was notoriously unlucky in love. Together, the set comprises a sort of theatrical scene depicting the downward spiral of the character. In “Death’s the Lover,” she jubilantly declares her favored lover (Death). In “I Shall Come Back,” she speaks as if addressing a former lover about how, when she appears to him as a ghost, he probably won’t even notice. She soliloquizes about her reactions to her own imagined death in “The First Time I Died.” And, finally, she let’s us know what she wants etched on her grave stone in “Epitaph.”
I chose contrabass to round out the trio for two reasons: to strike a more stark contrast with the voice (as opposed to cello, for example), and to give the appearance of a little jazz trio. The bass is featured in the brief interludes between songs 2 and 3, singing mournfully with a lot of virtuosic overtones.
texts:
Death’s The Lover That I’d Be Taking
(The Trifler)
Death's the lover that I'd be taking;
Wild and fickle and fierce is he.
Small's his care if my heart be breaking
Gay young Death would have none of me.
Hear them clack of my haste to greet him!
No one other my mouth had kissed.
I had dressed me in silk to meet him;
False young Death would not hold the tryst.
Slow's the blood that was quick and stormy,
Smooth and cold is the bridal bed;
I must wait till he whistles for me
Proud young Death would not turn his head.
I must wait till my breast is wilted,
I must wait till my back is bowed,
I must rock in the corner, jilted
Death went galloping down the road.
Gone's my heart with a trifling rover.
Fine he was in the game he played
Kissed, and promised, and threw me over,
And rode a-way with a prettier maid.
I Shall Come Back
I shall come back without fanfaronade
Of wailing wind and graveyard panoply;
But, trembling, slip from cool Eternity,
A mild and most bewildered little shade.
I shall not make sepulchral midnight raid,
But softly come where I had longed to be
In April twilight's unsung melody,
And I, not you, shall be the one afraid.
Strange, that from lovely dreamings of the dead
I shall come back to you, who hurt me most.
You may not feel my hand upon your head,
I'll be so new and inexpert a ghost.
Per-haps you will not know that I am near,
And that will break my ghostly heart, my dear.
The First Time I Died
(Epitaph)
The first time I died, I walked my ways;
I followed the file of limping days.
I held me tall, with my head held up,
But I dared not look at the new moon's cup.
I dared not look at the sweet young rain,
And between my ribs was a gleaming pain.
The next time I died, they laid me deep.
They spoke worn words to hallow my sleep.
They tossed me petals, they wreathed me fern,
They weighed me down with a marble urn.
And I lie here warm, and I lie here dry,
And watch the worms slip by, slip by.
Epitaph
(For a Sad Lady)
And let her loves, when she is dead,
Write this above her bones:
No more she lives to give us bread
Who asks her only stones.
Vesalius’ Body (2006)
Veslius’ Body was initially composed as a commission for the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (Utah), but subsequently not used for the original purpose, communion with choreography. It later “wanted to” change from the original piano trio to the piano quartet version you’ll hear this evening. Either way, it is a first time any of us are hearing the piece.
Vesalius was a 16th century Flemish physician and anatomist whose book De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) was exceedingly influential in his time and contained many intricately detailed drawings (not by Vesalius, apparently) of human dissections, often in allegorical poses. He is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. (wikipdia)
Vesaluius’ Body is made up of a short prelude, 3 movements abstractly depicting aspects of the human body, and a postlude recalling the opening. I remember thinking it was wonderful that the section headers, Blood, Flesh, and Bone inspired some very energetic musical ideas - alternately evoking “Fantastic Voyages” through the body and standing before it in awe.
Performer Bios:
Bassoonist Gina Cuffari is an active orchestral and chamber musician in the New York City area. Praised for her “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving”, she is the new co-principal bassoonist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Riverside Symphony, and a frequent performer with the American Composers Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She has also appeared with American Ballet Theater, Stamford Symphony and New Haven Symphony. Broadway productions include Fiddler on the Roof and Sunset Boulevard. Gina is the bassoonist of the Sylvan Winds, Quintet of the Americas, and performs and records with the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound.
Gina is also a champion of new music, and has performed with the Argento New Music Project, ACME, and has recorded the Schoenberg Wind Quintet and Stockhausen Zeitmasse for Albany Records with the Phoenix Ensemble. As a frequent collaborator with Alarm Will Sound, Gina has toured and performed with the group as bassoonist, contrabassoonist, pianist, and vocalist, and can be heard on their recent Splitting Adams album (music of John Adams). She has also commissioned and premiered solo works combining her two passions – bassoon and voice – at SubCulture NYC and Stony Brook University.
Gina is a graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Manhattan School of Music, and recently completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University. She is a passionate educator, and is on the faculty of New York University and Western CT State University.
Clarinetist, Nicholas Gallas has performed as a guest with a diverse range of artists and ensembles, including NOW Ensemble, the Imani Winds, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Signal, the Knights, Decoda, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, the Britt Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Stamford Symphony, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Princeton Symphony, Onsite Opera, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Symphony in C, Chamber Orchestra of New York, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Metropolis Ensemble, Sylvan Winds, and the Broadway Chamber Players. He has also taught and performed in Mexico with Cultures in Harmony, an international cultural diplomacy project.
Nicholas is currently a member of the American Modern Ensemble, a group devoted to celebrating American contemporary classical music. From 2009-2014 he was a member of the Quintet of the Americas, a woodwind quintet that was founded in 1979 in Bogotá, Columbia.
He has performed on Broadway in the orchestras for The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, and Sunset Boulevard, and has toured the U.S. with singer-songwriter, Duncan Sheik. Additionally, he can been heard on the soundtracks for the film Besa, scored by Philip Glass and the Spike Lee film, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, scored by Bruce Hornsby.
Nicholas received his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe joins the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for what will be her 24th season. Highlights of her opera performances include the title role in La Cenerentola with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and Staatsoper Dresden; the title role in L’Italiana in Algeri with the Metropolitan Opera and Los Angeles Opera; Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Metropolitan Opera and Festival de Musique de Strasbourg; the title character in Massenet’s Chérubin with Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. A champion of contemporary opera, she has sung Sister Helen Prejean in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Maddie in Heggie’s Three Decembers, the Countess in The Nose by Shostakovich, the Secretary in Menotti’s The Consul, Lucretia in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, the Mother in the world premier of Sankaram’s Thumbprint and the Mother in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves. Chamber music performances include the Berg Lyric Suite with the Brentano String Quartet, Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis with pianist Jeremy Denk, and the Schoenberg arrangement of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde . She has been a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, and with the St. Louis Symphony she debuted at Carnegie Hall as the featured artist in Les nuits d’été.
A native of Kansas, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra French hornist Chris Komer began his studies at Wichita State University with Nick Smith. He later studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Rick Solis and at the Manhattan School of Music with David Jolly.
At home playing all types of music, (not least as a former member of the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps) Chris has become one of New York City’s most sought after freelance hornists. From the concert hall (in addition to the NJSO, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony and Houston Symphony) to the jazz club (with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Chico O’Farrell Orchestra, Chuck Mangione, Marta Topferova and Gary Morgan’s Panamericana), to the recording studio (on recordings for J. J. Johnson, McCoy Tyner, Harry Connick Jr., Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Audra McDonald, Celine Dion, George Michael, Luther Van Dross, Chaka Kahn, and in 16 major motion picture soundtracks and hundreds of TV themes and commercials) to Broadway (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Candide, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Music Man, La Bohème, South Pacific and West Side Story), his versatility is second to none. (Chris Komer, Cont.)
Chris has appeared with many successful chamber groups including the Burning River Brass, Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Aspen Wind Quintet, Music from Marlboro, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Extension Ensemble, Canadian Brass and Hexagon.
Also a jazz pianist, Chris released his first solo piano CD, Travlin’ Music in 2009 featuring all original music. Chris has also founded a performing artists’ retreat in the Rocky Mountains called the Artist’s Refuge at Thunderhead.
~ Www.thunderheadrefuge.com
Violist Max Mandel enjoys a varied and acclaimed career as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician and speaker. He is the Co-Principal Viola of The Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment and a member of the trailblazing ensemble The FLUX Quartet. He has appeared as guest Principal with The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and the Handel & Haydn Society amongst others. Other group affiliations include The Smithsonian Chamber Players, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and The Silk Road Ensemble. His most recent record with FLUX Quartet is a collaboration with Saxophonist/Composer Oliver Lake on Passin’ Thru Records. Max's newest venture is his lecture series Chamber Talk. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada he divides his time between New York and London.
Blair McMillen has established himself as one of the most versatile and sought-after pianists today. The New York Times has described him as “riveting,” “prodigiously accomplished and exciting,” and one of the piano’s “brilliant stars.” He has made numerous appearances at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall; and with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, and the Albany Symphony. In 2015 he undertook a 3-week tour of Brazil, sponsored by the US State Department. Blair is pianist for the American Modern Ensemble and the six-piano “supergroup” Grand Band, among others.
A major advocate for contemporary music, Blair has premiered and recorded dozens of pieces by some of the most revered living composers in the world. He is the co-director of the Rite of Summer Music Festival, an outdoor contemporary music festival on NYC’s Governors Island. For 13 years, Blair has been Artist-in-Residence at Bard College and Conservatory. He also serves on the piano faculty at the Mannes School of Music.
Since her Carnegie Hall debut recital in 2002, pianist Isabelle O'Connell has developed an international career as soloist and chamber musician that has taken her around the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, to venues such as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Chicago Cultural Center, Detroit Art Institute, the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Cork Opera House, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
Isabelle is co-founder of Grand Band, a piano sextet described by the New York Times as: "six of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York's contemporary-classical scene.” Isabelle has performed as concerto soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and also with Crash ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Da Capo Chamber Players, the ConTempo and New Zealand String Quartets.
Isabelle has recorded for the Diatribe, Innova, and Lyric fm labels. Her debut solo album RESERVOIR features solo piano music by nine contemporary Irish composers and for this The New Yorker hailed her as "the young Irish piano phenom.” She recorded Kevin Volans' Concerto for Piano and Winds with the RTE NSO in 2014.
A former Fulbright scholar, Isabelle holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She is currently on the piano faculty at Bard College.
Violinist Nurit Pacht was a top prize winner in international competitions including the Irving Klein International Music Competition in California and the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland. As a soloist she was featured in major world events such as the European conference for the inauguration of the Euro in Brussels and under the auspices of the European Commission and United Nations she toured the former Yugoslavia, during the cease-fire in 1996. In 2015, she performed for Pope Francis on his visit to New York and gave a State Department funded recital tour of Ukraine. Nurit has collaborated with stage director Robert Wilson, choreographers such as Bill T. Jones and has worked closely with many of today's celebrated composers. She has toured as soloist with orchestras around the world including the Houston Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. The Israeli Composer Noam Sheriff dedicated the violin concerto "Dibrot" to Nurit, and she performed it in several prestigious venues of Israel. As a baroque violinist, she has a master's degree from Juilliard's Historical Performance program. Nurit has recorded for Nimbus Records and Toccata Classics.
Flutist John Romeri maintains an active teaching and performance schedule throughout the northeast, often performing with such orchestras as the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Stamford, Delaware, Harrisburg, and Lancaster Symphonies, as well as the Philadelphia Virtuosi and Black Pearl Chamber Orchestras, St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Wall Street, and Central Park's Shakespeare in the Park.
Currently, John is the flutist for the Broadway revival of Roger and Hammerstein’s Carousel staring Renée Fleming. Previous Broadway credits include the most recent productions of Sunset Boulevard, Miss Saigon, Lincoln Center's revival of The King and I, She Loves Me, An American in Paris, On the Town, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Les Misérables, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Ragtime, Disney’s Mary Poppins, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, and Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular! Television appearances include Mildred Pierce [HBO], Late Night with Jimmy Fallon [NBC], and, most recently, NBC's The Sound of Music Live! and Peter Pan Live!
John holds two bachelor's degrees—in flute performance and composition—from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, as well as a master's degree in flute performance from Mannes College - The New School for Music, where he studied with American Ballet Theater Principal Flute Judy Mendenhall. An avid educator, John currently serves on the music faculty of The Calhoun School, and is a teaching artist for the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
Canadian cellist Caroline Stinson performs widely as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician and has appeared at Zankel Hall, Gardner Museum and the Smithsonian; the Koelner Philharmonie, Lucerne Festival and Cité de la Musique in Europe, and the Centennial Centre in Canada. In recent seasons she appeared in recital in New York sponsored by the Finnish Consulate, in recital in Brussels, Belgium, with Accroche note in Strasbourg France, and as a soloist with the Stamford Symphony CT, under Eckart Stier, where she also serves as Principal Cellist. Caroline has commissioned and premiered works from solo cello to concerti and has had (Caroline Stinson, Cont.)
the privilege of working closely with Pierre Boulez, John Corigliano, Peter Eötvös, John Harbison, Aaron Kernis, Paul Moravec, Shulamit Ran, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, and Andrew Waggoner. As a member of the Lark Quartet, she will celebrate the group's 30 years with commissions from Harbison, Waggoner, Bunch, Weesner and Hatke. As a recording artist, Caroline's CD Lines was released on Albany and she has contributed to more than a dozen chamber music recordings with features on this continent and abroad. Born in Edmonton, Ms. Stinson studied with Alan Harris (Cleveland), Maria Kliegel (Germany), Joel Krosnick (Juilliard) and Tanya Prochazka, with grants from Alberta Heritage and the Canada Council. She has given masterclasses across North America and Europe, and teaches cello and chamber music at The Juilliard School. Caroline is Co-Artistic Director of Weekend Chamber Music in the Delaware River Valley.
~ www.carolinestinson.com
Hailed by the New York Times for her “magnificently sweet tone,” oboist Keve Wilson would skip music theory and history as a kid to practice Irish jigs and reels instead. Currently oboist with the Broadway revival Carousel, Keve inspires visiting high school band and orchestra students from around the country with her original show Believe NYC---from the Band Room to Broadway. A past winner of Concert Artists Guild and solo oboist with the Grammy nominated Absolute Ensemble, she has performed in Amsterdam, Argentina, Austria, Dubai, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Mexico, Panama, New Zealand, and South Korea. A two-time recipient of the Clifford-Levy Creativity Grant, Keve traveled to Makuleke Village in South Africa where she participated in learning and teaching folk songs of the region. From Hyde Park, NY and a graduate of Eastman School of Music, she studied oboe with Richard Killmer, piano with Judith Handman and dance with Elizabeth Clark. She lives in New York City with her husband, Kerry and Portuguese water dog, Stella.
~ www.kevewilson.com
Samuel Zagnit, a native New Yorker, is a graduate of The LaGuardia High School for the Arts. He is now pursuing his Bachelor’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music where he has been awarded a full tuition scholarship granted by the Constance and Homer Mensch Scholarship Fund. Sam began studying the double bass at age nine and is currently a student of David Grossman and Orin O’Brien, bassists for the New York Philharmonic. At MSM, Sam has been able to play with a myriad of ensembles, including Tactus, a contemporary performance ensemble, part of the Contemporary Performance Graduate Program. Here he is able to play a vast array of demanding music with extremely high level musicians. In addition to performance, Sam is also a composer and recently premiered his chamber opera, no(w)here (sea)son in Greenfield Hall. Sam recently formed a duo with soprano, Amber Evans, confluss, and they are currently getting ready for their debut concert series, starting on April 30th at 31 Tiemann Pl.